So Say We All: Battlestar Galactica Returns Online

Caprica has shown the origins of the cylons and Battlestar Galactica demonstrated the final fate of the survivors of the Cylon apocalypse – They’re us! Kind of. I mean, spoilers – but Syfy isn’t done with the middle of the Galactica mythology just yet. The network is planning a third series in the franchise to run online, called Blood and Chrome, that centers on the Cylon War, an era only barely seen in flashbacks so far.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Blood and Chrome is currently being planned as nine or ten episodes of around ten minutes in length, focusing on the war experiences of a young William Adama – Edward James Olmos in BSG – and, according to writer (and Caprica and Battlestar Galactica executive producer) Michael Taylor, “the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media.” He went on to say,

It’s a story that will take us to new corners of the ‘Battlestar’ world (or worlds), and yet it aims to be a very contemporary war movie in a lot of ways. I would say I’m thinking as much of Afghanistan and Iraq–the reality of ‘Hurt Locker,’ Sebastian Junger’s ‘Restrepo,’ and similar movies–as I am about about the largely implied past of ‘Battlestar.’

For a project so realistic in tone, it will be distinctly less realistic in form; Blood and Chrome will be filmed mostly on green screened sets, with backgrounds being developed virtually after the fact, based on scans and photographs made of the original sets during Galactica‘s production. According to the Tribune, if the online version of Blood and Chrome is successful, it may lead to a television version of the show.